Group 'Pivots' Concept To Create Social Media Network For Musicians

The logo for CreatorCircle, one of the group's entered in this year's NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge.

One NYU Entreprenurs Challenge group’s initial idea for a website that would connect artists with fans has pivoted into one to instead connect artists with other artists.

Music business freshmen Philip Vachon and Jordan Williams decided to shift their group’s initial plan for YellTimbre into a new project aimed to help musicians meet and collaborate with each other when creating music. The start-up shift came after the group attended the challenge’s Lean Startup Machine Workshop during fall break and went out to Washington Square Park to talk to people about their concept. When pitching the idea for a social media site to connect artists with fans, they received a less-than-ideal response, Vachon said.

“We pitched the idea, pretended we had the site ready to go … And everyone said no,” Vachon said about the public’s level of excitement in the project.

A brainstorming session led them to pitch a different idea — asking musicians if they had ever collaborated with other artists and if they would like the chance to collaborate more. That’s where the group found a new opportunity.

“We went back out and got a massive response,” Vachon said. “The first time, we went up to 15 musicians in the park and every single person, except one who was in two bands, said, ‘I definitely want to use this. Here’s my email.’”

Williams said the group’s new idea, which they’ve dubbed CreatorCircle, is intended to be integrated as an app for Facebook and other heavily-trafficked social media sites and would give artists a safer and more reliable way for artists to find collaborators than they find on sites like Craigslist. CreatorCircle would require users to put up comprehensive profiles, including photos and intro videos or sound bites, to ensure musicians can find people that match what they’re looking for in a bandmate or collaborator.

The initial target market is for music students at NYU and the group plans to expand to students at universities from there, eventually making the site open to the public, Williams said.

Vachon said the group currently is beginning to build up the site and find friends in the music department who are interested in using CreatorCircle, with plans to hold a networking event once enough potential users have been scouted out. A computer science student is helping Vachon and Williams build up the site’s technical components to get it off the ground.

There is a possibility the site could eventually make a profit by putting up advertising from music stores such as Guitar Center at some point down the line, Vachon said. Another idea the group has tossed around is to earn royalties from an online radio station streaming music made by the sites’ musicians, but making money isn’t the first thing on their minds.

“Right now, we’re focused just on the users,” Vachon said.

Williams said it was difficult to put the idea for YellTimbre behind, but in the end, the group thinks pivoting their project could help them in the challenge, as well as the business world.

“Finding out that our (initial) idea wasn’t as perfect as we thought it was was disappointing,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we wanted to make a product that people actually want to use.”

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.